Tell Your Democratic Senators To Stop the AHCA by Playing Hardball

Are your senators solid Democrats? Ask them to stop the AHCA by playing hardball to combat the furtive, anti-democratic way their Republican colleagues are writing the bill.

The Senate Democrats are united in opposition to the AHCA, the bill that the Republicans intend to replace the ACA, but that doesn’t mean much when they don’t control the senate. The Republicans are showing their colors by tackling the smoking heap of malfunctioning rubble sent over by the House in secret.

It should be illegal to secretly write a bill that remakes one-sixth of the country’s economy and takes away the health insurance of as many as 23 million people, but it isn’t.

The Senate Democrats can do something to protest the anti-democratic actions of the Republicans, however, and you should call and urge them to do it. The Democrats can grind the business of the Senate to a halt. It’s called withholding consent, and doing so makes it damn near impossible to carry through the day-in, day-out work of the Senate.

You might ask, why are the Dems holding back? Why haven’t they moved to withhold consent already? Well, withholding consent is a hardball tactic. It’s not nice. It’s not mannered. It’s using the Senate’s own rules as a weapon. In short, it’s the sort of thing that Mitch McConnell would do. And in the wake of the shooting at the Republican practice for the Congressional baseball game, Democrats are loathe to break the bipartisan let’s-come-together aura.

But, again. The Senate Republicans are working to kill Obamacare in secret. They’re doing it in secret because they know damn well that at least 80 percent of the country would rise up in anger and rain that anger on their heads, individually and collectively. It’s the sort of act that justifies the serious step of withholding consent.

You need to call, and keep calling, to oppose the AHCA, and you need to urge your friends all over the country to keep calling, too.

Now, if your senators are Republican? You know what to do. Call them, call them, call them, and voice your opposition to the AHCA, and specifically voice your opposition to their writing the bill in secret.

If your Republican Senator is one of the 13 men (yes, they’re all men) in the group that’s rewriting the bill behind closed doors, it is extra-important for you to call, call, call, every damn day. See this link and scroll down to the Dylan Scott tweet to see their names:

If your senators are Democrats, here is a script to use when you call:

“Dear Senator (Lastname), I am (Firstname Lastname), and I am calling to voice my support for you if you choose to withhold consent for Senate business over the way in which your Republican colleagues are handling the AHCA bill. Working behind closed doors on a law that would, if passed, affect one-sixth of our economy and take health insurance away from as many as 23 million people is unconscionable, and it calls for action. I want you to know that if you choose to withhold consent, and choose to slow or stop the business of the Senate in protest over the way in which the AHCA is being written, I fully support you, and you will have my vote the next time you’re up for re-election.”

Read about how Senate Democrats are considering measures such as withholding consent to protest the AHCA: